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All in a Day

[Alex Glasgow]

Alex Glasgow sang his own song All in a Day in the 1970s BBC 2 television series The Camera and the Song and on the accompanying soundtrack album from 1975.

Peter Bellamy sang All in a Day on his 1975 LP Tell It Like It Was. He accompanied himself on concertina; Chris Birch and Anthea Bellamy provided harmony vocals. He noted:

The high-point of the recent BBC 2 series The Camera and the Song was an episode centred on Alex Glasgow’s excellent songs reflecting life in the North-East. This song was the high-point of that episode, where it was used to illustrate the launching and christening of a new craft from the Tyne-side shipyards, and the strange celebratory ritual which traditionally excludes the craftsmen whose labours made the event possible.

Bob Fox sang All in a Day in 2006 on his Topic CD The Blast.

The Unthanks sang All in a Day on their 2012 CD Songs From the Shipyards (Diversions Vol. 3).

Lyrics

Peter Bellamy sings All in a Day

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
All in a day, Willy, all in a day;
She’s leaving today, Willy, she’s sailing away.

Do you recall, Willy, the steel wind cutting off the river?
Do you recall, Willy, the berth plans at the water’s edge?
Will they ever know, Willy, the life hours welded on the river?
Is it any more, Willy, than just so much wages underneath the bridge?

And come tomorrow, Willy, when the peeping toms have canned the final picture;
And come tomorrow, Willy, when the cocktail-party faces stiffen hard;
And come tomorrow, Willy, the same wind will whistle off the river;
And come tomorrow, Willy, I’ll see you seven thirty in the yard.